E85 Greener Fuel

E85 is an alcohol fuel mixture of 85% ethanol (ethyl alcohol, i.e., grain alcohol) and 15% gasoline (petrol) (proportioned by volume rather than mass) that can be used in flexible-fuel vehicles.

Availability

The fuel is widely used in Sweden and is becoming increasingly common in the United States, mainly in the Midwest where corn is a major crop and is the primary source material for ethanol fuel production. Minnesota has the largest number of E85 fuel pumps of any U.S. state, with 158 of the 580+ pumps in the country. As of July 2005, Illinois has the second-greatest number of E85 pumps (about 60); most other states have fewer than two dozen. Even in Minnesota, the ethanol pumps represent a tiny fraction of the fuel outlets—there are about 4,000 gas stations in the state, each with several individual pumps (however, all stations there are required to carry E10, a 10% mixture of ethanol and gasoline).

Concerns about rising gasoline prices and energy dependence have led to a resurgence of interest in E85 fuel; for example, Nebraska mandated the use of E85 in state vehicles whenever possible in May 2005. Similarly, whereas selling any fuel containing more than 10% ethanol is still currently illegal in some states, even this is rapidly changing. For example, Florida proposed changing state law to permit the sale of alternative fuels such as E85 at an October 7, 2005 meeting, and held public hearings on October 24th. The expected outcome of having held this hearing is the changing of Florida state law to permit the selling of alternative fuels such as E85 by the end of 2005 to the general public. (Currently, only county, state, and Federal fleet vehicles may purchase E85 in Florida, from only 3 pumps in the state.) Several other states have similar laws still on their books that prevent the sale of E85 to the general public. The expected general outcome, though, is the rapidly widening acceptance of E85 sales to the general public in all of the United States by the end of 2006.

US Federal fleet flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs) are required to operate on alternative fuels 100% of the time upon the signing of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 into law by President Bush on August 8, 2005. (See Section 701 for this requirement). Formerly, such FFVs were required to be operated by the end of 2005 on alternative fuels only 51% of the time (i.e., the majority of the time) by Executive Order 13149. (See Executive Order 13149 [1], dated April 21, 2000.) This means that the US Government's use of E85 is effectively doubled as of August 8, 2005 with the signing into law of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. This jump in consumption had the unintended effect of limiting public availability of E85 coincident with shortages of gasoline due to impacts of hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico during the 2005 hurricane season. Although the price of corn had not changed greatly, the usage of E85 nonetheless jumped, thereby creating a shortage of E85, and causing E85 prices to rise coincident with gasoline prices during the 2005 Hurricane Season.


Cost

As of 2005, E85 is frequently sold for up to 35% lower cost per quantity than gasoline. Much of this discount can be attributed to various government subsidies, and, at least in the United States, the elimination of state taxes that typically apply to gasoline and can amount to 47 cents, or more, per gallon of fuel. The US federal tax exemption that keeps ethanol economically competitive with petroleum fuel products is due to expire in 2007, but this exemption may be extended through legislative action. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the price of E85 rose to nearly on par with the cost of 87 octane gasoline in many states in the United States, and was for a short time the only fuel available when gasoline was sold out, but within four weeks of Katrina, the price of E85 had fallen once more to a 20% to 35% lower cost than 87 octane gasoline.

The price of E85 has risen quickly during 2005 also due to additional factors. With the signing into law of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, US Federal consumption of E85 jumped, causing shortages of E85, along with a rise in prices.

Unfortunately, because ethanol contains less energy than gasoline, fuel economy is reduced for most 2002 and earlier FFVs (flexible-fuel vehicles) that are currently on the road by about 30% (most after 2003 lose only 15-17%, or less) when operated on pure E85 (summer blend.) Some of the newest vehicles can lessen this reduction to only 5-15%. A few cars actually claim to provide better fuel economy on E85 than on gasoline; for example, one Saab turbocharged car actually claims better fuel economy on E85 than gasoline through using a higher compression ratio engine. Still, for almost all FFVs, more E85 is typically needed to do the same work as can be achieved with a lesser volume of gasoline. This difference is sometimes offset by the lower cost of the E85 fuel, depending on E85's current price discount relative to the current price of gasoline. As described earlier, the best thing for drivers to do is to record fuel usage with both fuels and calculate cost/distance for them. Only by doing that, can the end-user economy of the two fuels be compared.

For example, an existing pre-2003 model year FFV vehicle that normally achieves, say, 30 MPG on pure gasoline will typically achieve about 20 MPG, or slightly better, on E85 (summer blend.) When operated on E85 winter blend, which is actually E70 (70% ethanol, 30% gasoline), fuel economy will be even better than when operating on the summer blend. To achieve any short-term operational fuel cost savings, the price of E85 should therefore be 30% or more below the price of gasoline to equalize short term fuel costs for most older pre-2003 FFVs for both winter and summer blends of E85. Life-cycle costs over the life of the FFV engine are theoretically lower for E85, as ethanol is a cooler and cleaner burning fuel than gasoline. Provided that one takes a longterm life-cycle operating cost view, a continuous price discount of only 20% to 25% below the cost of gasoline is probably about the break-even point in terms of vehicle life-cycle operating costs for operating most FFVs on E85 exclusively (for summer, spring/fall, and winter blends.)

Fuel economy in fuel-injected non-FFVs operating on a mix of E85 and gasoline varies greatly depending on the engine and fuel mix. For a 60:40 blend of gasoline to E85 (summer blend), a typical fuel economy reduction of around 23.7% resulted in one controlled experiment with a 1998 Chevrolet S10 pickup with a 2.2L 4-cylinder engine, relative to the fuel economy achieved on pure gasoline. Similarly, for a 50:50 blend of gasoline to E85 (summer blend), a typical fuel economy reduction of around 25% resulted for the same vehicle. (Fuel economy performance numbers were measured on a fixed commute of approximately 110 miles roundtrip per day, on a predominantly freeway commute, running at a fixed speed (62 mph), with cruise control activated, air conditioning ON, at sea level, with flat terrain, traveling to/from Kennedy Space Center, FL.)


Use in Flexible-fuel engines

E85 is best used in engines modified to accept higher concentrations of ethanol. Such flexible-fuel engines are designed to run on any mixture of gasoline or ethanol with up to 85% ethanol by volume. The primary differences from non-FFVs is the elimination of bare magnesium, aluminium, and rubber parts in the fuel system, the use of fuel pumps capable of operating with electrically-conductive (alcohol) instead of non-conducting dielectric (gasoline) fuel, specially-coated wear-resistant engine parts, fuel injection control systems having a wider range of pulse widths (for injecting approximately 30% more fuel), the selection of stainless steel fuel lines (sometimes lined with plastic), the selection of stainless steel fuel tanks in place of terne fuel tanks, and, in some cases, the use of acid-neutralizing motor oil. For vehicles with fuel-tank mounted fuel pumps, additional differences to prevent arcing, as well as flame arrestors positioned in the tank's fill pipe, are also sometimes used.

Historically, the first widely-sold flexible-fuel vehicle in the United States was a variant of Henry Ford's Model T intended for use by self-reliant farmers who could make their own ethanol. Surprisingly, it is capable even to this day of running on E85, or gasoline, as it was designed to operate on either ethanol or gasoline, at the user's choice. Henry Ford's subsequent 1927 Model A likewise was an early flex fuel vehicle. It, however, eased the driver's method of accommodating various blends of alcohol and gasoline through a driver's control on the dash with a knob that was turned to control air fuel mixture and pulled to choke the single-barrel Zenith carburetor. This dash-mounted control provided easy control of all the major adjustments required for easily burning alcohol and gasoline in varying proportions, including enough range for burning today's E85 blend of alcohol and gasoline in any mix of E85 and gasoline.

Modern flexible-fuel vehicles have come a long way since the Model T and Model A, and now automatically adapt themselves to burning changing percentages of alcohol and gasoline without any user intervention required. So far, most flexible-fuel vehicles that have been built in the United States have been sport-utility vehicles and other members of the "light truck" vehicle class, with smaller numbers of sedans, station wagons, and the like.

Swedish automobile maker Saab has developed a turbocharged flexible-fuel engine called the BioPower which takes special advantage of the high-octane fuel. This engine allows the vehicle to accelerate faster and attain higher speeds when running on E85 than when running on straight gasoline.

General Motors subsidiary GM do Brazil adopted GM's Family II and Family 1 straight-4 engines with FlexPower technology that enables the use of ethanol, gasoline, or their mixture. The vehicles with FlexPower include the Chevrolet Corsa and the Chevrolet Astra.